Might have overdone it just a bit this weekend

Three photoshoot sessions, different locations.  Lots of walking, lots of standing in one place.  And when I stepped off, the knee really freaking hurt.  It could be that it was just too soon after recovering from pneumonia, but I was getting cabin fever. Got some excellent images, though.  Was great to give the Sigma 150-600 Sport a workout. It performed wonderfully.

 

Yesterday, I refilled prescriptions for Moxicam (anti-inflammatory) and Tramadol.  Yesterday was the first time I have dosed myself with Tramadol in over two months.  Was short or breath several times during the sessions. Had the inhaler to counter that.
Slept fairly well last night, but still feeling a bit tired all day.  Managed to get some laundry done, so very basic tidying. Scrubbed and refilled the bird feeders.

Trying to stay awake now.

Got some work to do

I have been using Forte Agent since version 3.  Now it's up to version 8.  When I had a tech problem with it, I used to be able to submit a ticket, explain everything I had tried, and get good tech support.

Last year, the person I suspect was the programmer/owner of the program retired. Now, if you have a support issue, you are shit out of luck. Even if you tell them you've read the FAQ, surfed the net, checked forums for hours with out any result, what you get is copy paste BS from the FAQ. (most recent was an issue with a problem removing old addresses from address book. The useless advice was a direct copy and paste from the FAQ, even though I told her I had already read it)

Why? This excuse really rankles:  Since they don't charge much for the software, they will no longer provide second tier (aka info not on the useless FAQ).  There is no plans for any updates, either.  Sooner or later, this email program, without any updates, will no longer be usable with email services.

Switch to another email program? Sure, but the only way you can export your address book is in a convoluted XML file, which can't be imported into another program with any semblance of order. 

So, I have some work to do, to manually input all the address from one email program to another.  I'll have to keep forte agent on my system though, because of years of correspondence, and Forte only IMPORTS messages, it doesn't export them.

Made appointment to see Dr A

The cough wasn't going away. Add being tired all the time, falling asleep sitting up, shortness of breath, breathing shallow, feeling pressure and coughing when laying down.
Have to go for chest xray, and blood tests, but Dr A is fairly certain what the result will be.  I have atypical pneumonia.
Have an inhaler to help with the breathing and coughing, and a different antibiotic that targets pneumonia. 
Saw Sharna, osteo nurse practitioner, and she told me to keep watch on the knee replacement, to make sure there's no involvement. 

Lens ‘test’

A few weeks ago, I got a Sigma 150-600 Sports.  Unfortunately, circumstances kept me from giving this lens the test run I wanted.  Well, today, I got to mount it on my 7DmkII.

First off; the Sigma 150-600 is a beast of a lens. It’s heavy. And unless you’re used to curling 20lb dumbbells on a daily basis, you will need to use a monopod when using it it to photograph birds or anything else you will be walking around to do.  If you’re going to be standing in one spot, you will need a tripod.

Onto image quality.  Wow… just wow.

 

 

The lens is very quick to focus, and the images are sharp, without any distortion, even when shooting multiple subjects.

This Sigma is a great piece of glass. I wouldn’t use it every day, but for specific birding or sporting events, it’s a winner.

Called Wacom support

Since I have already done all the troubleshooting (different port, different cable, different computer, and even trying a different tablet) my Intuos Pro 5s' USB charge port needs to be replaced.
Hoping it will be less expensive than getting a new tablet!  Also, found out I can get a new drawing surface for my OLD Intuos 5.

Rather glad I kept the old Intuos 5

Even though it has scratches (compliments of Wing 's cat, Ziggy) I kept the old tablet when I replaced it.  A good thing, too, because for some bizarre reason, the new one, after almost a year of using, isn't charging up, nor is it recognized by Windows when plugged in via USB cable.

Yes, I've tried a different cable, port etc etc. No joy.

So, what I'm doing is charging up the old I5, and when the battery on the new one goes flat, swap it out, until I can figure out why the newer one has decided to not play nice.

Well, isn't this special

For some bizarre reason, that borders on Trumpian logic, Facebook has decided that WordPress blog posts can no longer auto-shared with my Facebook profile.  BUT if I made a business page, it can be auto posted there.  Uhh, no, my profile page is not a business or organization page.
Then, I discovered that FB did the same thing to Twitter.  I followed the instructions on the Twitter page, but not sure if it worked or not.
Oddly enough, it seems that the connection with the Russian based LiveJournal can still have access to post on Facebook.
Well, Facebook CodeMonkeys... you've got some 'splaining to do!

Oh joy

Caught a nasty cold last week. It's not the flu, but a cold that has flu-like symptoms.  Unfortunately, it led to bronchitis, ear, sinus infection.  Went to see GP, and on some strong anti-biotics. Dr B was right, after being on them for 48 hours, I feel somewhat better.
The coughing, though. I don't know which is worse; the sore ribs from all the coughing, or the coughing induced headache. Either way, the coughing has been keeping me awake, and I can't wait for a full nights' sleep. Or even just more than an hour asleep, two hours awake, rinse and repeat.